Gasolene-engine starter.



E. Ar; GARDNER. GAsoLBNB ENGINE STARTER. APPLIUATION FILED JULY 12,1909.

Patentsed Mar.1,1910. J'ffg /d Wllllllll",

citizen of the United States, residing in Illinois, have invented a newand useful Im- 'which is so constructed that the shaft is not required1n its ordinary revolution to carry A lengine by the ordinary crank.

UNTTED STATES PATENT carica.

EDWIN GARDNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .AS-SIGNOR OF ONE-TEN'IH T0 CHRIS-TOPI-IER BALDACCI, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GASOLENE-ENGINE STARTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

`latented Mar. 1, 191,0.

Application filed July 12, 1909. Serial No 507,192.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN A. GAnnNEma Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of provement in Gasolene-Engine Starters, of which the followingis a specification.

This inventionrelates to improvements in engine starters.

The purpose of the invention isl a gasolene engine starter, of cheap,strong and durable construction, that may bc applied directly to themain shaft of the engine, or an extension thereof, of any form ofgasolene or explosive engine, and at either side two or employing anycounter-shafting; and

any great weight of parts; and so contrived as-not to interfere with thecranking of the These results I accomplish by means of a mechanismconsisting essentiallyof a spring drum ru'nning loose from the shaft andborne on the stationary frame-work of the machine in conjunction with atwo part clutch, lone member of the clutch being splined to andIrevolvinoV with the shaft, and .the other member tbeing connecteddirectly to'one end of the spring,'of which the other end spring isconnected to the drinn above mentioned, this member of the clutch beingalso provided with a locking'device -or ratchet that permits rotation inthe direction of the re .volving shaft anda prevents rotation in ythetivopart locking or ratchetmechanism, one` member of. which is carriedby said shaft and the other member of which is `carried I by the s pringdrum, this latter locking mechanism being so Acontrived that the shaftmember is free to'revol've at all times with i the shaft, while the drummember being Secured to the spring drum, can revolve -only with thedrum, the locking being' so contrived that when thedrum revolves in thedirection of ,revolution of the shaft, it will l N opposite direction;and further .in a second l carry said shaft with it, but when the drumis stationary, the.` shaft is still free to revolve in the samedirection; and further, a mechanism for locking the said spring drum atwill against revolution, and releasing it to permit revolution; all ofwhich will more fully and at largeappear in the subsequent explanation,and aided by the accompany ing drawing Which forms a part of thisspecication.v

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal, vertical section of myimproved starter. Fig'Q is a vertical cross section of the same on theline 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on the line 33 ofFig. 1`

Like characters ofreference made use of in the several figures indicatelike parts.

In the drawing, l0 is a stationary framework. This frame-work isprovided with a` bearingll for the shaft 12, su porting said shaftdirectly, and with other lhearings supporting said shaft indirectly, aswill .appear from the drawing. Encircling this shaft is a twvo-partclutch, preferably a friction clutch', one member of which,-f13,issplined to the shaft to revolve therewith and slide thereon, andprovidedwith a'grooved` hubl 14 lengaged by a clutch shifter 15connected by the rod 16 to a suit-able operating vhandle or lever, suchhandle not being shown in the drawing, by means of which the clutch' maybe thrown into and out of engagement i at the will of the operator. Theother inem; ber of the clutch, 17, iscarried on the frameworkdirectly inthe bearing 18 and indi-v rectly elsewhere. rI"he latter-clutch, 17, isprovided with a locking device thatpermits its revolution freely in thedirection of thev revolving shaft, but prevents revolution in theopposite direction, and which locking mechanism may consist of a ratchet19 and a pawl 20, the latter carried on the stationary frame of themachine." It will be noted that this clutch member 17 is 4provided witha' sleeve 21 extending through the spring drum 22. `And within the drumsaid `sleeve is ro- .vided with a hook 23 to Which-one end o the.`

. greatly I takes place, though since spring 24 is attached, the otherend of said I spring being connected by a pin 25 tothe drum itself.

The result of the mechanism thus far described is that when the frictionclutch, which I call the spring-winding-clutch, is operated, both partsof the clutch being thus locked to the shaft 12, the revolution of thelatter now tends to wind up the spring in the drum. Butthe drinn, beingitself free to revolve with the shaft, in order to actually wind thespring it isnecessary to provide some locking mechanism or means totemporarily prevent the rotation This temporary drum-locking mechanismmay consist of a-brake or eccentric locking device 26, operatedY by ltherod 27. Now .the drum being locked, the spring Will be Wound up by therotation of the shaft and the winding gained will be held by the ratchetand gawl 19, 20, of the spring-Winding-clutch:

ince the drum locking mechanism is frictional in-its character, if thespring be over- Wound, the drum will slipfbefore breaking l the windingtak'es' but a moment of time, the operator can determine when the springis fully wound by the resistance, and at that moment release the clutch,leaving the anism 1n action to hold the Winding that has been gained. Onthe other side of the drum t from said clutch isthe locking mechanismforlocking the spring drum to the shaft and thus starts the power,though the engine ha when required to apply the spring thereto, andwhich consists of two members, one member being connected to the springdrum and the other to the shaft. latter locking mechanism may consist ofthe pawl-earrying-disk 28, connected rigidly to the shaft and carryingthe free swinging pawls 29; and the other member may consist of theratchet wheel 30 rigidly connected With the spring drum. Of course, thislocking mechanism may consist of lany suitable mechanism that willpermit-the shaft to revolve freely in one direction while connecting thedrum with the shaft when the'drum is released and brought into` action.

prefer the ratchetwheel and multiple pawl device shown in the drawing.The purpose of having several pawls operated by their own weight insteadof a single springheld pawl is that these pawls may` swing freely, sothat when the shaft 12 is revolving rapidly, in the normal operation ofthe engine, the centrifugal force of such revolul tionA may operate tocarry the loose pawls out and away from the ratchet teeth to avoid therattling and noise whichtheir engagement would otherwise cause at thisis stopped, there will be at least one of the four pawls in suchposition that it can drop of the drum.

drum locking mech- But I connect the spring drum with the shaft tocommunicate the stored energv of the spring to the shaft to start theengine.

. The operation of my improved engine starter is as follows: By somemeans. ln' the ordinary crank or y is put into operation. Now while theshaft l2 is running in the direction of the arrow. and the spring drumlock 26 is set in the locked position to hold the said spring drum fromrevolution, the operator throws in the winding clutch and thus connectsthe sleeve 21 to revolve with the shaft 12, winding up -the spring. Whenthe spring is fully Wound, which the operator may know by the feelin ofthe clutch, the clutch is released whlle the shaft 12 still continues torevolve, and leaving the spring in the wound condition, butl notattached to the shaft. And when the engine is stopped, the springl drumimmediately becomes connected to the shaftv by the fall of the pawls 29andremains in that condition for an indefinite time and for any lengthof time desired, the starter being now charged with the energysurrounding the engine time; While when the revolution of the shaft o,ito'engagement with the ratchet wheel to l to seize and rotate theshaft in the proper direction as soon as the spring drum lock shall bereleased, nd which release can be effected at any time by the operatorby means of a pull or push on the rod 27. As soon as the spring drum isreleased, it being locked to the shaft, revolves the said shaft engineprecisely as d been cranked b v hand; and after the engine is started,the spring drum lock being again set to lock being momentaril)v appliedto wind the spring, the apparatus is again charged with energy to againcrank the engine. 'Of course, it will be more economical sometimes tothrow in the winding clutch just about as the engine is to be stopped,thus utilizing in some degree the momentum of the car, in case of anantomobile, to aid in the winding.

Having thus described my invention, I claim :w

1. The combination with the motor spring surrounding the engine shaft,of said engin(` shaft, of a ratchet clutch device for connecting at willthe inner end of the spring to the shaft for winding the same, a drumsnrrounding the spring and to which its outer end is connected, aratchet surroundingthe shaft and carried by the drinn, and a pawl plateengaging said ratchet and attached rigidly to the shaft, substantiallyas described. l

42. The combination w shaft, of said engine shaft, of a ratchet clutchdevice for connect-- ing at will the inner end of the spring to theshaft for winding the same, a drum sarrounding the spring and to whichits outer otherwise.y the engine ith the mot-or spring end is connecten;a ratchet surroundingthe Shaft undcarrid by he drum, and@ paWlplatefengaglng said ratchet andattached rigidly to heV shft, said pawlcalfrfyi'ng' device consisting-of a paWl carrier to'which a multiplicityvof? pawls are loosely pvoted so that the 'centrifugal force will carrythe ,f pawlf's free of the ratchet when the shaft is Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, JOHN XV. MUNDAY.

